Front closure brassieres



Nov. 17, 1959 P. B. JENSEN FRONT CLOSURE BRASSIERES Filed June 26, 1958 INVENTOP. Philip B. Jensen BYM ATTORNEY United States Patent ce FRONT CLOSURE BRASSIERES Philip B. Jensen, Naugatuck, Conn., assignor to Scovill Manufacturing Company, Waterbury, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application June 26, 1958, Serial No. 744,875

2 Claims. (Cl. 128-470) This invention relates to brassieres, and particularly to brassieres of the front opening type .withimproved means for separably joining the bust cups. f;

For many years, it has been the custom to hook bras together at the back of the wearer. The trend of late has been to hook the bras together in front of the sternum and provide an elastic section in the back connecting strap to take care of the necessary expansion and contraction of the 'bras. Such hooks or latches that have heretofore appeared on bras of the front opening type have been cumbersome and awkward to handle because it required a complex twisting and turning of the hook portion to interlock and disconnect the same. Also, these former hooks have required a relatively wide space between the bra cups which has been objectionable.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved construction of separable clasp and reinforcing strips that can be installed in the adjacent edges of the bra cups and coupled together by simply pushing the parts together in a straight line direction in front of and crosswise of the sternum.

Another object is to provide a clasp device that is easily disconnected by a simple thumb press operation on the latch member and one that is constructed so that when interlocked together, the adjacent inner edges of the bra cups will be in close proximity to each other.

A further object is to provide a bra construction having a separable clasp so assembled therein that the clasp is supported out of contact with the skin, and when releasing the clasp by pressing downwardly from the front, pressure will be transmitted through the reinforcing strip to avoid discomfort to the wearer.

A still further object is to provide a bra construction of the above character in which the separable clasp parts are made from sheet metal by simple stamping and forming operations and therefore economical to manufacture.

Other objects and advantages will appear from the detailed following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing wherein:

Fig. 1 is a front perspective view of a bra embodying the features of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation on an enlarged scale of portion of the bra bust cups having the clasp members installed therein and latched together;

Fig. 3 is a cross-section of the clasp members of the bra cups taken along line 3--3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a front view of the latching members as they appear removed from the bra cups in a separated state; and

Fig. 5 is an end view of the left clasp member as seen in Fig. 4.

As shown in Fig. 1, this invention pertains to a ladys bra, generally indicated by the numeral 10, the bra having the usual bust cups 11 and 12 connected to straps 13 and 14 that encircles the wearers body and are joined together at their rear ends by an elastic webbing 15. The bra is supported by the usual straps 16 extending from the top of bust cups 11 and 12 to the upper edge 2,912,984 Patented hlov.-, 17, 1959 very close proximity, there is provided a pair of mutually interengaging clasp members such as shown in Fig. 4. The clasp members consist of elongated strips 17 and 18 that are adapted to be installed in suitable pockets 19' and 20 such as defined .by the stitchings 21 and 22 pro vided in the adjacent edges of the bust cups 11 and 1 2,

and serve to reinforce those portions of the bustfcups.

The left strip 17 is formed with a central depressed, portion 23 extending-crosswise of the strap and having a latching strap or bar 24 sheared out of said depressed portion 23 and formed upwardly therefrom to provide a through eye 25 therebetween. The right strip 18.has a catch 26 preferably formed as an integral part of said strip and extending laterally therefrom in line with the depressed portion 23 of left strip 17. The catch 26 consists of a shank 27 that is connected to one edge of the strip 18 and is offset upwardly therefrom approximately the thickness of the strip material. The opposite end of the shank 27 is bent back upon itself as shown in Fig. 3, first into an upwardly biased bill section 28, then a shoulder 29 and terminates in a thumb piece 30 parallelling the shank 27.

In order to permit latching of the couplemental bar 24 and catch 26 of the strips 17 and 18 when the latter are assembled in their respective pockets 19 and 20 of the bust cups, provision is made of suitable openings in the material from which the bra is constructed. As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the left bust cup 11 has an opening 31 in its front surface with its edge finished with a conventional button-hole stitch. The opening 31 is large enough to expose that portion of the strip 17 having the depressed portion 23. The opposite bust cup 17 likewise has an opening 32 surrounded by a button-hole stitching and through which the shank 27 of the catch 26 projects from the strip 18. While the opening 31 in the left cup 17 is shown large enough to expose the latching part of the left clasp member, it is possible to conceal this por- I tion of the clasp member and have only an opening in the extreme edge of the left cup, similar to the opening 32 in the right cup 18.

In the operation of attaching the bust cups, it is only necessary to align the bill section 28 of the catch 26 with the opening 25 in the left strip 17 and then axially force the complemental latch parts together until the shoulder 29 catches in the back of the bar 24. From Fig. 3, it will be noted that by reason of the off-set shank 27 of strip 18 and the depressed portion 23 of strip 17, said strips will lie in substantially the same plane so as to afford no off-set alignment of the bust cups when latched together. Also, by reason of the relatively wide character of the catch 26 embraced between the depressed portion 23 and off-set strap 24 of the strip 17, this will preclude relative twisting of the strips 17 and 18 when interlocked together, thus affording a stable connection between the attached ends of the bust cups 11 and 12.

To release the latch in removing the bra, it is only necessary for the wearer to depress the thumb piece 30 from the front and simply separate the bust cups from each other. The fact that the clasp members are attached to the reinforcing strips 17 and 18 will distribute the pressure force for releasing the clasp over a relatively wide area so as not to give discomfort to the wearer.

While only one embodiment of this invention is disclosed, the invention is not to be limited thereto but may comprehend other constructions within the scope of what is claimed.

of the encircling straps 13 and 14 adjacent the webbing What is claimed:

1. A brassiere of the front opening type having cups with elongated pockets along their adjacent edges, an elongated reinforcing strip confined in each of said pockets, and means for separably joining said strips and edges of the cups together comprising coupling elements one of which projects from an intermediate portion of one reinforcing strip through an aperture in the pocket which confines such strip in a lateral direction toward the other reinforcing strip, the other or complemental coupling element being formed as a part of said other strip concealed in and accessible through an aperture in the pocket which confines suchv other strip, said complemental coupling element being located inwardly from the edge of its cup so that when the coupling elements are connected, the laterally projecting element overlaps the edge of the opposite cup to hold the cups close together, said coupling elements being interlockable' by movement of said edges toward each other in their own planes until said edges are in substantially abutting relation and being separable, upon applying pressure to one of said coupling n elements inwardly toward the wearers sternum, by reverse movement of said edges away from each other in their own planes.

2. A brassiere as defined in claim 1 wherein said concealed coupling element is provided with an eye aligned with the adjacent aperture in the pocket and wherein the other coupling element comprises a spring catch consisting of a projecting shank, an upwardly biased billed section, a shoulder and athumb piece so that when pressure is applied on the thumb piece, the billed section is depressed to release the shoulder from interlocking engagement with the eye.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 858,319 Adams June 25, 1907 FOREIGN PATENTS 828,040 France Feb. 2, 1938 985,525 France Mar. 14, 1951 

